What are the 10 key social listening metrics you should track in 2025? 🕵️
1. What Is the Volume of Mentions and Why Does It Matter?
Volume of mentions is the bedrock of social listening. It shows how many times your brand, product, or any tracked keyword is mentioned online. These mentions span across social media, news articles, forums, podcasts, blogs, and other digital sources.
Why should you care? Because this metric reveals your brand’s visibility over time. Tracking spikes and dips helps you tie mentions to specific campaigns, events, or issues. For example, a surge in mentions could stem from a product launch - or a crisis. Pair volume with sentiment (we’ll get to that) to understand the context.
2. How Does Reach of Mentions Impact Brand Exposure?
Reach estimates how many people could potentially see mentions of your brand. It’s not about how many times your brand is talked about (volume), but rather how many eyes those conversations might reach.
Not all mentions are created equal. A single post from a top-tier influencer could outperform hundreds of low-visibility comments in terms of exposure. Monitoring reach helps measure campaign impact and unlock influencer collaboration opportunities.
How to track: View your reach charts and filter by social or non-social media sources. Our AI Events Detector even flags anomalies like viral posts or media spikes.
3. Why Is Sentiment Analysis Essential for Brand Health?
Sentiment analysis helps you understand the emotional tone behind the mentions. Whether it's praise, criticism, or neutrality, this metric paints a clearer picture of how people feel about your brand.
Positive sentiment reflects strong brand affinity, while a negative spike may indicate a product flaw, PR issue, or brewing crisis. Consistently tracking sentiment helps you manage reputation and iterate based on customer feedback.
How to track: Sentiment charts show the share of positive, neutral, and negative mentions over time - essential for spotting early warning signs and measuring customer satisfaction.
4. What Does Engagement Tell You About Brand Interaction?
Engagement measures how users interact with brand-related content - likes, shares, comments, saves, reposts, and clicks. It’s a critical metric for understanding what content resonates and why.
Unlike passive mentions, high engagement reflects active interest. It's also a strong signal to algorithms, often increasing organic reach. In short: engagement is both a mirror and a megaphone.
5. What Is Share of Voice and How Do You Compare to Competitors?
Share of Voice (SOV) tells you how much of the conversation in your industry is about your brand - versus your competitors. It’s a benchmark for brand visibility and authority.
Why does it matter? A high SOV means people talk about you more, often correlating with higher awareness and stronger market positioning. If your SOV is lagging, it might be time to rethink your messaging or campaign strategy.
6. How Does Presence Score Quantify Brand Popularity?
Presence Score distills various data points like volume, reach, and historical trends - into one simple metric. It answers the question: “How strong is my brand’s online presence right now?”
This is especially useful for quick reporting or performance tracking over time. Instead of analyzing multiple graphs, Presence Score gives you a singular view of digital footprint strength.
7. Why Should You Calculate Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE)?
AVE translates earned media into dollar value. It estimates how much you would’ve had to spend on ads to gain the same level of exposure through organic mentions.
This metric helps prove ROI to leadership and justify investments in PR, influencer partnerships, or organic campaigns. It’s especially powerful when compared against paid campaign performance.
How to track: Our tool calculates AVE automatically and even shows source-by-source impact in the AI Metrics Analysis view.
8. What Can Hashtag Performance Tell You About Campaign Reach?
Hashtags link your brand to broader cultural and industry conversations. Measuring their performance tells you whether your campaigns are resonating and discoverable.
Whether you’re running a branded campaign (#GoProYourSummer), joining an event (#WWDC2025), or riding a trend (#TravelPhotography), monitoring hashtag reach, volume, and sentiment gives you granular insight into content strategy effectiveness.
9. Why Are Trending Topics Crucial for Real-Time Marketing?
Trending topics represent what’s currently capturing attention in your niche or community. Aligning your messaging with these themes helps you stay relevant and reactive in real time.
This is where strategy meets speed. Spotting and acting on trends can help you ride the momentum, create topical content, and adjust campaigns with precision.
10. Who Are the Top Authors and Sources Driving Your Brand Buzz?
Not every mention is equal. Top authors and sources are the profiles and platforms generating the most impactful conversations around your brand.
By identifying who drives the most engagement and reach, you can amplify those relationships. These could be creators, journalists, power users - or even critical voices worth turning into advocates.
How to track: Use our Analysis tab to find top profiles by followers and impact. The AI Metrics tab shows which platforms and voices are giving you the most ROI.
So, What Actually Makes Social Listening Work in 2025?
Metrics alone aren’t enough. It’s what you do with them that drives real brand growth.
In a landscape flooded with opinions, trends, and noise, social listening helps you tune into what actually drives impact. When you track the right metrics, you’re not just collecting data - you’re entering the conversations that shape your brand’s reputation, and future moves.